Ernie Els wins European Order of Merit

Ernie Els has won the European money title with two tournaments to play.

Darren Clarke, the only player with a remote chance of overtaking Els, conceded the title to the South African on Saturday.

Clarke needed to win the final two events on the European PGA Tour to have any chance of overtaking Els -- the Madrid Open next week and the Volvo Masters the following week at Valderrama in southern Spain.

``One day hopefully I will win it, but I felt it was not in my long-term interests to play next week because I've still got a lot of traveling to do this year,'' Clarke said in a statement.

``Congratulations to Ernie -- he deserves it.''

Els leads Clarke by 570,000 pounds ($950,000) in the Order of Merit.

``Darren did consider playing next week, but looking at the bigger picture he did not think he could realistically win the money list,'' his manager Chubby Chandler said. `` He's done a lot of traveling this season and still has a lot more to do.''

Had Clarke won the last two, Els could have prevailed by simply entering Valderrama. Last-place prize money would have been enough to keep him ahead.

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